The Cheap Fix of Religion and its Failure in Helping us Deal with Life

“Religion…is the opium of the people” – Karl Marx

In 2010 I wrote a blog post inspired by a young man I observed on Facebook. Religion for him was ultimately a drug. It gave him a high whilst he was in church, but out of that environment he got a downer and felt depressed. The type of Christian church he went to (Charismatic/Pentecostal) sold him religion as a solution to his problems but his problems never seemed to be solved and ultimately where does blame lie – in God, or himself? It’s a never ending spiral of depression.

Perhaps that’s why some pastors can appear overly obsessed with the “evils” of drugs, alcohol, clubbing, masturbation, secular music, etc. recognising them as competing forms of the same quick, unsatisfactory, temporary, feel-good fix that they are offering.

A typical example of this kind of pastor, that markets God and religion as a solution to people’s problems and as the answer to their (selfish) desires, is from a comment on a pastor’s Facebook page:

I’m not mentioning his name because the comment is indicative of many of the bland, feel-good statements by pastors. The idea that only good is coming is obviously ridiculous, as is the idea that you have to “receive” it. It also does not prepare us for the bad which is certain to come and gives us no tools to deal with that.

“Today the ‘Good News’ of Christianity…is sold to us as that which can fulfil our desire, rather than as that which evokes a transformation in the very way that we desire” – Peter Rollins

I’ve started reading The Idolatry of God: Breaking the Addiction of Certainty and Satisfaction by Peter Rollins. He uses Jacques Lacan’s concept of ‘The Mirror Phase’ to highlight why we feel anxiety in our life and that sense that we are not complete and need something to fill a void. Rollins writes that at the age of around 6 months we develop a sense of self. This awareness of our individuality highlights our feeling of separation with the world and we feel we have lost something. In truth we never had it. Rather that deal with that reality we look for ways to overcome that sense of loss believing the problem exists outside of ourselves rather than inside. Anything that claims it can fulfill our feeling of emptiness by making us complete – consumerism, religion, etc. – is effectively misleading us. They all become objects that we start to idolise as the answers. The truth is we need to understand this feeling is the human condition and embrace it. This seems to echo Buddhist thought which recognises that holding on to our feelings and desires only makes them stronger.

The scientific method helps us understand our world as it really is. What we seem to need are philosophies to help us deal with that reality. Any philosophy or belief that prevents us engaging with reality will fail to equip up with the tools we need to deal with our condition. When we realise there are no external answers to our problem, that we will always feel a sense of incompleteness, we can find peace and move on.

5 comments

Certainly American-style evangelicalism is often guilty of presenting Christianity as a quick-fix for our problems. What you describe is a current-day aberration, not a true presentation of the Bible or historical Christianity. While your eternal life begins today, the remainder of your life on earth will be a mixture of joy and pain. A mature Christian understands that.

The scientific method helps us understand our world as it really is only if there is no God. It assumes there is no God; and as I’m sure you’ll agree, when you begin with an erroneous assumption you will likely end with an erroneous conclusion. If God does exist, then that is the reality we have to deal with.

The Bible describes life very much as you do. We are incomplete because we are separated from our maker. There is no peace with him because of our sin, and we must avoid any philosophy that claims “peace, peace, when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14) God has established a way to heal the incompleteness you describe and to give us true peace. Without that, what is there to move on to?

David – thank you for your comment and of course it is that particularly variety of evangelism, also far too prevalent in Ghana, that posits simplistic solutions. Although you write that we have to deal with the reality of joy and pain you go on to claim that God can heal our feeling of incompleteness. Does this not fall in into the trap I have written about – that God is seen as a commodity to solve a perceived problem (Rollins’s ‘idolatry’)? Rollins, claims that God does not heal our feeling of incompleteness but gives us the tools to deal with it. That is where we move on to. We understand our dis-ease and anxiety are always going to be part of our condition, so they no longer have a hold over us. In that way we find true peace.

That statement implies a focus on the here and now. That is the real trap, isn’t it? Paul tells Christians that if they find themselves in slavery, then be the best Christian slave they can be so that their slavery works for the glory of God. He doesn’t promise them that Christianity will provide a way out of being a slave (other than slavery to sin, which is a different topic). Perhaps it will, but it is not so promised. Whatever the temporal circumstances of your life are, recognize that your focus is to be on the eternal. There may well be pain, grief and tears, but God has promised the believer that he will wipe every tear from their eye. Being certain of that is where one finds true peace.

Years ago, I glimpsed what you said about religion, in essence it becomes an object “that we start to idolise as the answers.” I backed away from the religious organization and dug deeper into Christianity even from a scientific logical standpoint and found Christian Science in a better light. You offered more food for thought also, thanks.

another obsession of the church here in Ghana is gay bashing…always topical but particularly now since Nana Oye Lithur’s appointment to Minister of Gender, Children and Personal Security.cabinet position. Quite the irate response from church..

Interesting now that more Western governments are tying in aid to human rights…Cut aid and see how the poor will do-there will be no solutions then-….the irony is killing